The Gryphon

The Sporting Life

A Wood-Paneled, Gilded Sports Bar at Dupont

Why, you’re going to need some sophisticated, comfortable surroundings and some big ol’ TVs to take it
all in. A good variety of red meat wouldn’t hurt, either.

Your options: score an invite to Ted Leonsis’s place.

Or better yet, head to The Gryphon, a gentlemanly new sports bar opening Wednesday just below
Dupont Circle.

This isn’t the kind of place with jerseys on the walls and Jägermeister coolers behind the bar. Nope,
instead try animal skulls and gold snakeskin wallpaper on the walls, and chalkboards with the
day’s betting odds behind the bar.

In short, it’s the kind of place where Redford and Newman might have hung out in The Sting. Well,
that, with 31 TVs.

You’ll want to show up a little before tip-off to stake out a metal stool at one of the two long bars, or
if you’re with a group of super fans, one of the wooden high-tops that seat six. They’ll bring you a bag
of fresh popcorn from an old-fashioned cart while you peruse the 30-odd beers and dishes like a
root-beer-marinated steak sandwich and Korean short rib tacos with housemade kimchi.

When the available inventory of live sports starts to dry up (say, 11pm), things will turn just a bit
lounge-y—think tastings of their own private-label whiskeys and a DJ spinning from a booth that used to be
a bank vault.